t42 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



March 



For the 'Western Pomologist. 

 The Grimes' Golden— Its History— Orig- 

 nal Tree Still Standing— Its Great Age. 



Mark Milleb — Dear Sir :—l am in- 

 formed that you seem to think that there is 

 too much noise made about the " Grimes' 

 Golden " apple by certain parties, and that 

 you judge so from the fact that j-ou attended 

 the recent meeting of tlie Illinois State Hor- 

 ticultural Society, at Ottawa, and did not 

 hear it mentioned while revising the Soci- 

 ety's fruit list, although tlie most intelligent 

 and best posted pomologists in tlie West 

 were in attendance. 



Now, I can only account for it not 

 being Killed uji, from the fact that it is yet 

 not generally known and tested in Illinois, 

 and the States west of Ohio. I have not 

 been able to learn of the trees being in full 

 bearing west of Ohio, except in South- 

 eastern Iowa, and Northeastern Missouri, 

 where there are some trees as much as 

 twenty-four years old from the graft. I 

 believe if that intelligent bod}' of fruit grow- 

 ers at Ottawa,Jiad been acquainted with the 

 " Grimes' Golden," as in Southeastern Iowa 

 and Northeastern Missouri, and had proved 

 it to be as good in Illinois, they would not 

 have hesitated to place it first on the list of 

 winter apples. Something of the history of 

 this most excellent and valuable apple in this 

 section may not be uninteresting to your 

 readers. 



So far as I have been able to learn, John- 

 son Meek, Esq., of Vincennes, Lee county, 

 Iowa, was the first nurseryman west of Ohio 

 who propagated the ' Grimes' Golden.' Mr. 

 Meek first saw the ' Grimes' Golden ' at the 

 nursery and orchard of Samuel Wood, near 

 Smithfield, eleven miles from Steubenville, 

 Ohio, in the autumn of 1845. Mr. Wood 

 had trees of this variety in bearing at that 

 time, which he had obtained by grafting 

 cions from the original tree, which is still 

 standing, healthy and productive, about 

 three miles back of Wellsburg, in Brooke 

 county, West Virginia. It is owned by Thos. 

 P. Grimes, who says his father bought 

 the farm on which it stands about 70 years 

 ago, and sold fruit from it to New Orleans 

 traders as early as 1804. He writes to S. B. 

 Marshall, of Ohio, that he never knew the 

 tree to fail of producing a good crop, except 

 in 1834, when the crop was partly cut oil' by 

 severe, late, spring frosts. It is his belief 

 that the tree has not missed bearing fruit for 

 75 years or more. Mr. Johnson Meek got 

 cions of 'Grimes' Golden' of Samuel Wood 

 in the spring of 1846, and grafted them that 

 spring in his nursery in Lee county, Iowa. 

 In the fall of 1846, he cut cious from the 

 original tree in Brooke Co., Virgiuia, the 

 tree at that time not being as large, says Mr. 

 Meek, as his own largest trees of ' Grimes' 

 Golden ' are now. Mr. Meek says the orig- 

 inal tree stands on a poor slate hill. In the 

 severe winter of '56 and '57, when Mr. 

 Meek, as well as other Western nursery- 



men aud fruit growers, learned a valuable 

 lesson by their heavy Icsses of tender va- 

 rieties, he fouud that ' Grimes' Golden ' was 

 unhurt ; and finding the tree to be a young 

 and constant bearer of the very best fruit, 

 either for eating, cooking or market, he 

 planted largely of it himself and urged his 

 customers to plant the most of their winter 

 apples of this variety. 



From Mr. Meek's nursery it was spread 

 into Southeastern Iowa and Northeastern 

 Missouri, aud perhaps into the adjoining 

 parts of Illinois. Many of those trees are 

 now in bearing, all giving the highest satis- 

 fiictiou. It is the most papular winter apple, 

 where known, thai we ham in this section. Mr. 

 Meek regards it as the best winter apple for 

 this .section. 



Ton need not fear it, Mr. Miller, because 

 the Illinois State Horticultural Society did 

 not notice it. It has received high praise 

 from such talent as Dr. John A. Warder 

 author of American Pomology, who says of 

 it: "Quality very best; use, dessert, too 

 good for aught else." Again he says ; "This 

 delicious winter keeping apple should be 

 extensively disseminated by nurserymen." 

 Also from S. B. Marshall, Charles Downing, 

 Henry Ward Beecher, Horace Greeley, Geo. 

 M. Beeler, Jared P. Kirtland, M. B. Bate- 

 ham, F. R. Elliot, and others. 



Dr. Hollingsworth, of Lee county, Iowa, 

 and the writer, had the fruit on exhibition 

 at the last Iowa State Fair,-where it attracted 

 much attention and praise. I have had the 

 trees in bearing a few years, and consider it 

 our best and most valuable winter apple for 

 this section. 



B. P. Hanan. 



Luray, Clark Co., Mo. 



Remarks. — ^We thank Mr. Hanan for his 

 interesting communication on "Grimes' 

 Golden." 1^e were not present at the last 

 Iowa State Fair ; hence had not the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the apple at that time. As 

 our acquaintance with, and opinion of 

 " Grime,s' Golden " are pretty emphatically 

 expressed in the February number of the 

 Po.AioLoGisT, further remarks at this time 

 would be superfluous. We are always open 

 to conviction and ready to recognize any- 

 thing worthy of commendation, but death 

 to humbugs wherever fouud. 



Top Grafting. 



Top grafting apple trees may be done 

 almost any time during their dormant state, 

 l>ut the work is usually done in early spring. 

 We prefer cleft grafting — that is, splitting 

 the stock and inserting the graft, exactly 

 like we recommended for grafting the grape, 

 except do not remove the bark. You may 

 insert one or two grafts if the stocks are 

 large, say two inches in diameter or more ; 

 cover all the exposed parts with grafting 

 wax, that is the top and split, to exclude the 

 air. Use well developed terminal buds if 

 you have them, if not, the best matured buds 



you have. Three buds in length are suifl- 

 cient. If not terminal buds wax over the 

 top end. In re-grafting bearing trees, take 

 them oif above the forks in the center of the 

 tree aud graft these forks or limbs, leaving 

 the outside for another year, as it destroys 

 the vigor and vitality of the tree if you cut 

 ofi;" too much of the top at one time. In 

 younger trees, from five to eight years old, 

 you can take off all ,the top, providing it is 

 high up on the numerous forks or limbs. In 

 trees from three to four years old we prefer 

 grafting them at the hight we wish to fonu 

 the head. In younger trees we always graft 

 below the ground and use no wax, but pack 

 the ground close aud tight around the graft. 

 In this manner we graft the pear, cherry, 

 plum, and even the peach. The pear, cher- 

 ry, aud the plum can be top grafted like the 

 apple. We seldom bud anything except the 

 peach, apricot and rose. Grafting may be 

 continued until the bark peels freely, then 

 we prefer cutting off the stock aud make a 

 slit .as for budding. Slope the graft only 

 on one side to a point, and slip it in from the 

 top between the bark and wood ; tie a string 

 around to hold it in its place and wax over. 

 After the grafts have grown freely cut the 

 thread to let them expand. In all kinds of 

 grafting you will have to watch and keep 

 the suckers off The pear and apple grafts 

 when growing too rapidly are subject 

 to apoplexy (blight) ; as soon as you see the 

 least symptom of this disease pinch the 

 grafts back, so the balance of the buds will 

 mature and throw out laterals. 



Be careful you do not take the fungoid 

 fever; if you should you will have much 

 difficulty in getting rid of it, for you will 

 certainly get the cart before the horse, and 

 should your horse die you will look for the 

 disease in the cart. 



Crrafting Wax. — How to make good graft- 

 ing wax you will find in the Pomologist 

 No. 1, page 15, which we have used and find 

 excellent, particularlj' when the weather is 

 rather cold. Grease your fingers slightly 

 with tallow, then put it on the grafts. A 

 cheaper wax we also use when the weather 

 is not so cold, made in the following man- 

 ner : Take one pound beef tallow, (or bet- 

 ter, one pint linseed oil, either raw or boiled); 

 one pound beeswax ; melt together and then 

 pour it into water and work it in your hands 

 until it gets light and tough ; make into 

 sticks and use as above. 



Kan. As't Ed. 



Ci,APp's Favorite Pear. — The Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society -has awarded a 

 premium of sixty dollars to Clapp's Favor- 

 ite, as the best seedliug pear, after a trial of 



five years. 



«-»-» 



Crab Apples from Abroad. — The Lon- 

 don Gardeners' Chronicle speaks of a new 

 accidentally crossed seedling of the Red Si- 

 berian Crab, raised by Mr. Jennings, which 

 rivals the Lady apple in beauty, and is of 

 good quality. 



